Seeking Advice About Infant That Stopped Sleeping Through the Night

C. sounds like she is starting to experience night terrors my son did it for several months til my hubby played a game of beat up the monsters

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Kris

I know this is not what you want to hear but you have to let her cry it out. It is hard for three nights but she will learn. Short term pain is long term gain.

OMG!! I am going through the exact same thing! My daughter is almost 8 months and she is getting over an ear infection. I just thought she was uncomfortable, but she should be fine by now. Thanks for asking the question! I am going to try patting her back and letting her cry. Best of luck & thanks again!

Unfortunately, this is completely normal - just because your child sleeps through at 6 months, doesn't mean she will at 8 months, or 14 months... Esp. when kids are hitting developmental milestones (like learning to crawl/walk etc) they tend to wake at night. You can try a variation on the Ferber method to help minimize this - if she wakes, simply lay her back down, tuck her in, kiss her goodnight, and leave. If she's still crying 5 minutes later, repeat. Then wait 10 minutes, then 15. (Use shorter time intervals if you can't stand it - I know sometimes 5 minutes seems like an eternity). Also, when she first wakes up, I would start by ignoring her for 5 minutes to see whether she will figure it out on her own. Usually you can tell if things are heading in the right - or wrong - direction with crying. If it seems like you'd disturb her more by intervening than by just waiting, don't go in.

Good luck!

I'm sure it's just a phase. Could be she's going through a growth spurt and hungry. Or she's cutting a tooth. Or she's about to hit a mile stone...crawling, pulling up, etc...and is frustrated because she can't do it at this point.
Hang in there, it will pass. I have never let my son cry it out and he sleeps better than any other baby we know. He goes down at 7:30 and get up at 8 the next day. Responding to their needs is always the best way to show them they are loved, the rest works itself out.

Babies go through so many milestones and with many of them, they need to be retrained how to sleep. Just be consistent with whatever method you choose. I have never let my kids cry it out and they always go back to good sleeping habits when they get off track for little. The book that has helped me was: The No Cry Sleep Solution. It can help you help your baby sleep and respond to her needs while also getting enough sleep yourself. Good Luck!

My daughter tried this too.....went from perfectly happily sleeping and then "night terrors." My doctor said that she needed to learn to "self soothe" and put herself back to sleep when she wakes. So, we started by going in rubbing her back and saying "you're alright for about 1 minute, then left. We allowed her to cry. Knowing that we were there, responding to her enough to check on her, needed to be enough. Eventually, about 3 times doing this, she realized that when she woke, she needed to try to put herself back to sleep and does so just fine. She's 19 months now. Like us, it's hard to wake up from a dream or whatever, but it's an important lesson for her to learn. hope this helps.

Sounds like your little one just wants to be with you because you are working in the day....check and see if she started this around the time that you started working....

My son did the same thing at around 8 months. I could not figure out what was wrong and it was very frustrating. He did seem to be frightened of something so I would go in his room and pat him on the back. Most of the time if I stayed in the room with my hand on his back he would fall right back to sleep in about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes I would pick him up to settle him down, and then put him right back in his crib. He stopped doing it after a few weeks.

Well, I am going through this same thing with my six-month-old right now. He got to the point at about 10 weeks where he was sleeping a good 6-8 hour stretch without waking up crying. Then around 5 months of age, he started waking up every 1-3 hours crying during the night! At first, I thought it was teething pain, but my pediatrician said that teething pain doesn't actually wake babies. He told me that the more likely culprit was separation anxiety. Since I work during the day, he was probably just waking at night to get more "mommy time." I was flattered, but desperate for more sleep! So, occasionally I would just nurse him back to sleep and let him stay in our bed. I don't believe in letting him cry it out, so I kept trying to soothe him by picking him up, nursing, or just laying him beside me in the bed. Well, last night was the first night in a month and a half that he slept a full eight hours straight! I don't know if it has to do with the fact that I am home now on Winter Break (I'm a teacher)or if it was just a phase that he went through. Hopefully, this will give you some encouragement that this phase will come to an end...I have yet to see if he will sleep another good stretch after last night! Good luck with your little one!!

Our daughter did the same thing around the same age ! She happened to have a bit of congestion, mainly from teething and what I assume was post-nasal drip. I happened to put the humidifier in her room for about 4-5 nights and it really helped her sleep. Soon enough, she was back to sleeping through the night. I think it was a combination of the soothing, humming noise, and the humdifier being the best rememdy when they are a bit stuffed-up. I don't know if your daughter is teething, but this often goes hand-in-hand. Our daughter is 2.5 now and to be honest, there are still nights when she fusses a little during the night. Somethimes it's just a diaper change or she may be cold/ hot too !!! Good luck. I hope this improves. As a working mom, I know how presious your sleep time is !!!

My girls are a little over 7 months and we are going through this "phase" too. At first I thought it was just because they had colds, then I thought that they were maybe teething. Both of those are probably factors, but I read that when set-backs occur like suddenly not sleeping through the night, that there are major developmental milestones getting ready to occur - crawling, walking, etc. Good luck! I totally feel your pain and sleep deprivation. It can be so frustrating!

My daughter did the same thing around that age, and my son is starting to do it now at 5 months. I sometimes think he is hungry, but he barely nurses and then goes back to sleep. With my DD, we had to just start letting her cry for a few minutes. It was so hard, and if she kept going, we went to get her and rocked her, but most of the time she fell back asleep in a minute or two. Like I said, it was so hard to not go right in there and get her, but she went back to sleeping like she used to. I am not ready to do this with my DS yet though.... Good luck!
E.

My daughter did the very same thing at exactly 8 months. Her doctor and her grandmother(who had eight children) told me that they can have seperation anxiety at this age. The good news is that it does pass....my daughter is just over 9 months now and she is just about over it. I followed the advice of going into her room...patting her back until she calmed down and then leaving. I never picked her up or made eye contact with her. It may take a few times but it did work....of course you have to let them cry a little bit while doing this. Hope this help and good luck!

Please follow your heart with this one. You have to do what is right for your family and your child, but I would encourage you to not use the Cry it Out Method. By crying at night, your baby is communicating with you that she needs something (food, attention etc..) By ignoring her, she is learing that if she communicates with you in one of the only ways she knows how, you will not be there to meet her needs.

If you are not against co-sleeping, maybe you could try bringing her into your bed when she wakes and nurse her back to sleep so that you can get some much needed rest as well.

My son is 9 months old and he started waking more frequently at night as well about a month ago. I thought it was teething at first, then he had some congestion so I thought it was that, but I'm not really sure why he started waking more frequently. He cosleeps so he doesn't cry at all, but I am a very light sleeper so I notice him as soon as he moves. He will either cuddle close to me or "ask" to nurse and goes back to sleep after about 5-10 minutes. The waking up has subsided over the last week to about 2 times per night so hopefully we will be back to our once/night feedings soon!

Hang in there! It is tough to function on limited sleep. I hope your daughter outgrows this stage soon and enjoy those nighttime snuggles while you can. : )

My son did this around 9-10 months (which would have been 8 months adjusted age for him). We figured it was a growth spurt because once we figured out he was hungry and fed him when he did it, he only woke up once a night. It was short lived, and now he's back to sleeping til 6am.